Itinerary help for Rome and Northern Italy

Two nights anywhere will only give you one full day plus parts of the arrival and departure days. Rather than add another place, consider spending more time in the places you really want to see. To eliminate lost time moving from place to place, consider going to one of the locations first, and then spend all of your "Rome Time" staying there before returning home.

When is this trip?

The trick to not running yourself ragged is to not try to do too much or see too many places in a short period of time. I would add no more than one additional place to your list, and spread out your available time amongst the 4.

A multicity flight ticket would have been much more time efficient; but since you have already booked, seriously consider taking the train to your furthest point on your arrival day. You're already going to be jet lagged and too brain fogged go absorb much in the way of sightseeing anyway. So you might as well get a good chunk of your travel time out of the way on that day.

So, for example: train to Venice on your arrival day, getting there late afternoon. Spend 4 nights. Then to Florence for 3 nights; CT for 3 nights, and the remainder in Rome. I gave Venice 4 nights because that day would have been mostly spent in travel.

Definitely consider fewer stops and more time at each. Rome in two nights at the beginning of your trip really is not worth it. You will be jet lagged and there is way too much to see for only one day of sightseeing.

Seriously consider changing your flights to arrive into Milan or Venice, and depart from Rome. If Milan, go straight to Stresa (less than a hour away) for 2-3 nights to get over jet lag. Then on to Florence for 3 nights. Then maybe CT (depends on time of year & crowd situation), then Rome for the remainder.

We are going August 20-September 4

What are you planning on seeing in Rome?
Are you going to the Colosseum/Palatine Hill/Forum or the Vatican Museums? Those often need prebooking unless you want to spend half a day in line for each trying to buy tickets. Rome deserves at least 4 full days.

I count 14 nights, assuming you land on the 21st.

When you land in Rome, proceed immediately to Florence (assuming your flight arrives fairly early?) by train. Florence is about art. If you want to see the big museums, reserve in advance and spend at least 3 nights here. Look at what you can actually do in a day without exhausting yourselves in the heat. We find one museum or other “big site” in the morning and one more minor site or activity in the afternoon is about the right pace, with a rest before dinner.

From Florence, the Cinque Terre is reachable easily enough but it still takes awhile so by the time you get there and settle in, most of the day is gone. If you really want to see the villages and take a hike or two, 3 nights is the minimum.

Saving 4 nights *minimum * for Rome at the end, you have 5 nights to spend, so what interests you? If Venice, go there before Florence. Milan does not have the great sites of other cities so probably skippable on a first trip. Again, 3 nights minimum in Venice. But Lake Como is also pretty much a 3 night location, IMO, so maybe stick with 4 locations in total, like this:

• 4 Florence with a day trip to Siena
• 3 Cinque Terre
• 3 Lake Como
• 5 Rome with perhaps a day trip to Ostia Antica or Villa d’Este in Tivoli

Do you have Rick Steves’ Italy guide book? Essential reading for logistics of all these places.

All great European cities are worthy of a 4 night minimum. And Rome, Florence and Venice are very important cities in history, culture food, music, art.

You would do better to limit your time to those three cities. Next trip, you can catch the others. And there will be another trip to Italy.

How many nights will you sleep in IT?
Buy a ticket now to fly from Rome to Venice unless you can change your flight and fly in and out of Venice and Rome. If you fly home from Venice, make sure it’s not an early morning flight because a water taxi to the airport is expensive.
Don’t expect to see much of Venice on arrival day unless your plane lands early morning. If so, two nights will do. Otherwise, you need three nights.
From Venice take a direct train to Florence’s SM Novella station and sleep in Florence for three nights. Buy tickets for the Uffizi Gallery two months out.
From Florence’s SM Novella station take a train to the Cinque Terre that requires a connection. Two nights is all you need for the Cinque Terre unless you hike. These hikes are strenuous and you will need to add a night per hike. From the Cinque Terre take a train to Rome. Expect at least one connection depending on where you stay in the Cinque Terre.
Rome deserves three nights and if you visit Vatican City make it four.

Hi dmb,
While I am certainly no expert here, one of the previous posters asked what specifically you want to see? I would broaden this out to ask yourself the same question for each of your planned stops. Or is this a "tasting menu"? What are your interests? Art, ancient ruins, cafe culture, wine, food?

I am one of a very few who do not see Rome as a "must visit for a week" person. I am not that interested in ancient ruins. Great food, great fountains, but my one visit of 3 nights was enough. I LOVE Florence but am not that interested in the art. I love the walkability of the city, food, connections to other areas.

Venice I also love but because I can wander to my heart's content. Again great food, great beach at Lido.

Also love lake Como but for the natural beauty. I visited the CT pre-multiple flooding. A place of astounding natural beauty but would never go there today due to the crowds. But that's me. If you want to hike-fine.

By my count you only have 8 nights planned. If you liked Rome and what it may offer, add some nights there. Ditto with your other potential stops. Don't add aything more-just determine what it is you want to see/do and add nights.

Just my 2cents

We have been to Rome (and south) 25 years ago. This time we will be bringing our son who has never been to Italy so we would like to see the main/touristy sites in Rome. We do like museums, history, ruins, and art, but to a moderate degree. We also like the coast and natural beauty, but probably wouldn’t be doing strenuous hikes in CT.
We would love to have some down time to wander around Venice, and or Florence.
All this advice is really valuable, and we will probably stick to 4 cities, and spend three or four nights in each. Maybe just 2 nights in Cinque Terre.
Any ideas for short day trips right outside of Rome? (In case we end up having more time there)

Also any thoughts on swapping Lake Como/Vernazza for Cinque Terre? Which would you choose?

Just want to point out that Vernazza is one of the five villages of the Cinque Terre. You probably mean Varenna on lake Como, as this village seems to be a favourite with many Americans.

Sept 1 (Sunday) is the Historical Regatta in Venice. https://www.regatastoricavenezia.it/en/ information on websites is slowly posting. Gondola races and more. Are you willing to give up a couple days elsewhere to see the regatta?

I got lucky. When I planned my monthlong August/September trip, I didn’t know the regatta would be on the last of my five days in Venice. There are events on Saturday too. I’m looking forward to something very different.

Contrary to others’ advice, it’s OK to fly in and out of Rome. While not ideal for travel time, the cost savings makes up for it.

Any ideas for short day trips right outside of Rome? (In case we end up having more time there)

As I mentioned above, Ostia Antica or Tivoli for Villa d’Este, which is a massive estate and garden with many fountains and other water features in the hills east of Rome.

Other ideas: Castel Gandolfo, Orvieto, the beach at Ostia, Frascati. All reachable by train in about an hour.

Agreed, Ostia Antica for ancient ruins or Tivoli for amazing Baroque gardens would make a great day trip from Rome. Perhaps add a bike tour out to the Aqueducts, gets you out of the heart of Rome & certainly ticks the ancient box!

As you didn't mention Venice in your original post, it's ok to skip it. Venice is jammed most of the year, but especially in the summer.

Slightly adjusting your first itinerary - as others mentioned you could fly into Milan and get to Stresa on Lake Maggiore easily, then proceed to Florence and end in Rome. If you can get a multi-leg journey into Milan and out of Rome, less backtracking.

Also any thoughts on swapping Lake Como for Cinque Terre? Which would you choose? I would ABSOLUTELY choose Lake Como or for that matter any of the lakes, over CT. Varenna is a beautiful village on the lake, it was a tad cheaper than Ballagio, I seem to recall. But that's more travel than just hopping on a train to Stresa. Even 20 some years ago CT was jammed, trails are narrow, so I'd skip it.

Thank you, yes I meant Varenna on Lake Como. It seems that travelers are very split on CT and Venice. Some say to skip one, some say to skip the other. I didn’t know they have a regatta in Venice on September 1. We will definitely factor that into our plans. A bike tour sounds wonderful for a change of pace! I was even wondering if they have a country side/Tuscany tour out of Florence for a day trip, possibly, including lunch? I appreciate all the ideas for day trips out of Rome.
Thank you for all the help.

If you can add a night in Florence and make it four nights instead of three, take a day trip to Siena by direct bus (1h 15m). The bus is quicker than taking the train that takes longer. If you take the train, you must take a bus or taxi from Siena’s train station to Siena’s old town.
To see the Tuscan country side you can sleep in Siena and rent a car after your first night there and drive through Val d’Orcia: https://lovefromtuscany.com/scenic-drives-in-tuscany/. You’ll run out of adjectives as you describe the breath-taking scenery. You’ll pass well maintained farm houses with many landscapes on these hilly roads. This is the best of Tuscany. Stop in Pienza’s old town then drive to Montepulciano. When you’re ready to go to Rome take a direct bus from Siena (3h).
Another good day trip from Florence is Milan by direct train (2h): https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html. You would depart from Florence (Firenze S.M. Novella station) to Milan (Milano Centrale). There aren’t many that can get you there in 2h but I see some departing every hour at 8:55, 9:55, etc. From Milano Centrale to Firenze S.M. Novella station there are trains departing Milan at 18:55, 19:55, etc.
If you take a direct train from Firenze S.M. Novella to Rome, get off at the Roma Termini station. Good day trips from Rome are Orvieto by direct train (1h 15m) and take the funicular to get to the top of the old town.
Naples is another good day trip from Rome’s Termini station. You’ll need to get off at the Napoli Centrale station. The train is direct and takes 1h 15m.

Thank you! A day trip to Siena from Florence or to Naples from Rome sounds like great options for us. We are also looking into the bike tour from Rome to the aqueducts and catacombs. Is Topbikes the preferred tour company? Also is the Capuchin Crypt a must see? Or is Saint Sebastian just as good?

There are a few bike tours to the aqueducts & catacombs, I see TopBikes recommended by forum members but we didn't get a chance to take a tour. We did go to the Museo delle Mura, Wall Museum by taxi, which really was amazing, worth it just to get out of downtown Rome for a few hours! Here's my Dec 2023 TR for Rome, lots of suggestions on restaurants & frankly I personally would swap out one of the big sites for Palazzo Massimo, it's a gem without crowds.https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/rome-was-jammed-over-ny-but-still-fun

If you take a day trip to Naples make sure you reserve seats on the nonstop trains between Rome’s Termini station and Central Naples.

Yes I saw the non stop train thank you!